A bulk of data suggest that the gut microbiota plays a role in a broad range of diseases, including those affecting the central nervous system. Recently, significant differences in the intestinal microbiota of patients with epilepsy, compared to healthy volunteers, have been reported in an observational study. However, an active role of the intestinal microbiota in the pathogenesis of epilepsy, through the so-called “gut–brain axis,” has yet to be demonstrated. In this study, we evaluated the direct impact of microbiota transplanted from epileptic animals to healthy recipient animals, to clarify whether the microbiota from animals with epilepsy can affect the excitability of the recipients’ brain by lowering seizure thresholds. Our results provide the first evidence that mice who received microbiota from epileptic animals are more prone to develop status epilepticus, compared to recipients of “healthy” microbiota, after a subclinical dose of pilocarpine, indicating a higher susceptibility to seizures. The lower thresholds for seizure activity found in this study support the hypothesis that the microbiota, through the gut–brain axis, is able to affect neuronal excitability in the brain.

中文翻译：

---

肠道微生物群调节癫痫发作的易感性

大量数据表明，肠道微生物群在多种疾病中发挥作用，包括影响中枢神经系统的疾病。最近，一项观察性研究报告称，与健康志愿者相比，癫痫患者的肠道菌群存在显着差异。然而，肠道微生物群通过所谓的“肠-脑轴”在癫痫发病机制中的积极作用尚未得到证实。在这项研究中，我们评估了从癫痫动物移植到健康受体动物的微生物群的直接影响，以阐明癫痫动物的微生物群是否可以通过降低癫痫发作阈值来影响受体大脑的兴奋性。我们的研究结果提供了第一个证据，即在亚临床剂量的毛果芸香碱后，与“健康”微生物群的接受者相比，接受癫痫动物微生物群的小鼠更容易出现癫痫持续状态，这表明对癫痫发作的敏感性更高。本研究中发现的癫痫发作活动阈值较低，这支持了微生物群通过肠-脑轴能够影响大脑神经元兴奋性的假设。